A nautical confrontation was looming on Thursday night in the Southern Ocean between Japanese whalers and international environmentalists after the first contact was made between their two fleets near Sturge island in Antarctica.
After spending more than six weeks searching fruitlessly for the Japanese whaling fleet in several million square kilometres of ocean, and even offering a reward of $25 000 for anyone who would provide them with their coordinates, Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, reported on Thursday night from his flagship, the Farley Mowat, that the environment group’s helicopter had identified the Japanese ”mother ship” and three smaller ships.
In a satellite e-mail he wrote: ”0420 Hours. February 9. The Robert Hunter [Sea Shepherd’s second ship] is now three nautical miles from the Japanese whaling fleet. The Sea Shepherd helicopter Kookaburra has flown over the Nisshin Maru, [the factory ship of the whaling fleet] and three harpoon vessels. The Farley Mowat is now 20 nautical miles from the fleet and moving towards their position.”
Captain Watson, in charge of the Farley Mowat, said their position was 66° 46 minutes south and 169° 52 minutes east. ”The Sea Shepherd ships are in full pursuit of the illegal whaling vessels of the Japanese whale-killing fleet.”
Watson, an author, co-founder of Greenpeace, and a former director of the Sierra Club, who has held a professorship in ecology, is being described as an ”eco-terrorist” by the Japanese government-funded Institute for Cetacean Research. The ICR is paying for this year’s hunt to kill 850 minke and 10 endangered fin whales.
Before he left Australia in December, Watson said the intention of his crew was to protect the whales. ”We recognise [the Japanese fleet] as a criminal operation … This is a clear case of justifiable intervention against a criminal operation … the objective of the campaign is to enforce international conservation law.”
The ICR said in November it feared Watson would try to ram their ships. ”We fear they will endanger the lives of our crews and scientists. We will take whatever action we can,” said a spokesperson. Last year the Japanese fleet outran its opponents and killed more than 900 whales.
This prompted Sea Shepherd to raise more than $1-million for a much faster former US coastguard ship, the Robert Hunter.
”This time, with the new ship, they can’t lose us. If they can’t shake us off, I am pretty confident we can stop them. If they get violent towards us I suppose it could get very physical. We are quite willing to instigate an international incident over this,” Watson said on departure.
On Thursday night there was speculation that someone in the New Zealand government had leaked the Japanese whaling fleet’s position to Sea Shepherd. The New Zealand air force had filmed the ships last week while on patrol for illegal fishing in the Ross Sea, but the environment minister had refused to disclose their position.
This prompted Watson to accuse Japan of putting pressure on New Zealand to remain silent. ”This is like a police chief finding out that a bank robbery is in progress but refusing to tell his officers which bank because the thieves asked him not to,” he said. Both governments denied there had been any pressure.
Greenpeace International also has its ship Esperanza hunting the Japanese fleet, but on Thursday night its position was unclear. – Guardian Unlimited Â